HSBC initiates volunteering activity at SOS

Marking an eventful day for SOS Children’s Villages of India, Bangalore, HSBC employees volunteered to contribute their bit for the betterment of humanity by performing certain activities in the village.

Feb. 19, 2013 - PRLog -- Marking an eventful day for SOS Children’s Villages of India, Bangalore, HSBC employees volunteered to contribute their bit for the betterment of humanity by performing certain activities in the village. The activities focused on the sentiment of giving back to the society, combining both work and play.

SOS Children’s Villages of India is a unique organization which provides parentless and abandoned children with a nurturing environment where they can grow up to their full potential. In addition to the 33 Children’s Villages all across India that form the core of SOS Children’s Villages of India’s work, the organization runs a whole gamut of programmes and facilities in support of socially disadvantaged families to help them lead a decent life in the long-term.

At SOS Children’s Villages of India, Bangalore, this event brought together enthusiastic volunteers from HSBC to take time out for a noble cause of helping the village through different activities like repainting the village main gates, a basketball match between SOS Children and HSBC Employees among others engaging everybody at the SOS Village.

Appreciative of HSBC’s endeavour to volunteer one day at SOS village, Mr. Rakesh Jinsi, Secretary General, SOS Children’s Villages of India, said, “, Corporates through their CSR initiatives and with the resources they have, can make a truly lasting and sustainable impact on the work being done by the NGO Sector. HSBC has been supporting SOS India for the last seven years consistently and we hope that they will continue and also enhance their support. “

Commenting on the occasion, Ms. Aloka Majumdar, Head Corporate Sustainability, HSBC India, said, “Employee volunteering is an integral part of various corporate sustainability initiatives at HSBC India. Over the last few years our colleagues have volunteered extensively with SOS Children's Villages with the aim of mentoring children and youth. While it gives employees an opportunity to engage with the community in and around them, it also helps build stronger communities. We are extremely happy to be associated with SOS Children's Villages and we look forward to an actively engaged programme on regular basis."

HSBC - one of India's leading financial services groups supports initiatives pertaining to the education of children from underprivileged communities, financial literacy and entrepreneurship capacity building for rural women in marginalized communities. Also, it contributes to financial inclusion and environment, sustaining life skills training for disadvantaged youth and encouraging employees to volunteer regularly in several community and outreach projects pan India.

SOS Children’s Villages of India provides a secured family and a nurturing environment to children without parental care, where they can grow up to their full potential. Founded in 1964 by Dr. Hermann Gmeiner, it is a part of the worldwide SOS Children’s Village movement and a member of SOS Children’s Villages International, the umbrella organization.

Today, there are 33 SOS Children’s Villages including the newly set up village in Tirupati, 122 allied projects like Kindergartens, Hermann Gmeiner Schools, Social and Medical Centres, Vocational Training Centres and Outreach Initiatives spread across the country. SOS-India now constitutes the largest operations in the worldwide SOS Movement spread across 133 countries. Based on the unique concept of Family Based Care (FBC), SOS Children's Villages creates a home-like environment offering love, respect, security and hope.

Family Strengthening Programme is another key programme work, which is a preventive measure of abandonment of children by the families living below poverty line in the neighborhood of SOS Children’s Villages. At present SOS-India reaches out to more than 17,000 children and their families through the programme. It is being implemented at 33 locations in 21 states and supported by local partners and communities